2008 Football League One play-off final
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Date | 25 May 2008 | ||||||
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Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
Referee | Andy D'Urso (Essex) | ||||||
Attendance | 75,132 | ||||||
The 2008 Football League One play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 2008 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Doncaster Rovers and Leeds United to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from Football League One to the Football League Championship. The top two teams of the 2007–08 Football League One season, Swansea City and Nottingham Forest, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while those placed from third to sixth in the table took part in play-off semi-finals. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2008–09 season in the Championship. The losing semi-finalists were Carlisle United and Southend United.
The game was played in front of 75,132 spectators and was refereed by Andy D'Urso. After a goalless first half, Doncaster's James Hayter scored with a header from a Brian Stock corner. The match ended 1–0 to Doncaster, who were thus promoted to the Championship after four seasons in League One.
Leeds finished the following season in fourth place in League One and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost in the semi-finals to Millwall. Doncaster's next season ended with them in fourteenth position in the Championship.
Route to the final
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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1 | Swansea City | 46 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 82 | 42 | +40 | 92 |
2 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 64 | 32 | +32 | 82 |
3 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 65 | 41 | +24 | 80 |
4 | Carlisle United | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 64 | 46 | +18 | 80 |
5 | Leeds United | 46 | 27 | 10 | 9 | 72 | 38 | +34 | 76[a] |
6 | Southend United | 46 | 22 | 10 | 14 | 70 | 55 | +15 | 76 |
- ^ Leeds deducted 15 points for failure to comply with rules on insolvency.
Doncaster Rovers finished the regular 2007–08 season in third place in Football League One, the third tier of the English football league system, two positions ahead of Leeds United. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Football League Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Doncaster Rovers finished two points behind Nottingham Forest (who were promoted in second place) and twelve behind league winners Swansea City. Leeds United ended the season four points behind Doncaster Rovers;[1] before the start of the season, Leeds had been given a fifteen point deduction for "breaching rules on insolvency".[2] Their manager, Dennis Wise, resigned in January 2008 and was replaced by Gary McAllister who confirmed that "the job brief is promotion."[3]
Leeds United faced
In the other play-off semi-final, Doncaster Rovers faced
Match
Background
Doncaster had played in the third tier of English football since gaining promotion from the
The referee for the match was Andy D'Urso representing the Essex County Football Association. Both teams started the final with line-ups unchanged from their respective semi-final second leg matches. The BBC reported that Leeds had sold their full ticket allocation of 36,000 while Doncaster had sold 24,000.[13] According to author Daniel Chapman, Leeds fans queued overnight for the chance to buy tickets, and that "by dawn there were 7,000 in a tired, hungry and angry scrum".[14] Doncaster played in red-and-white hooped shirts while Leeds wore white kit.[13]
Summary
The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 25 May 2008 in front of 75,132 spectators.
Neither side made any changes to their personnel during the half-time interval, and Doncaster won an early free kick which Coppinger struck into the defensive wall. In the 48th minute, Hayter put Doncaster ahead: Stock played in an outswinging corner which Hayter scored with a diving header to make it 1–0. Three minutes later, Beckford's shot was saved by Sullivan low to his right. On 60 minutes, Howson's strike from 20 yards (18 m) was off-target. Twelve minutes later, Leeds made the first substitution of the game with Prutton being replaced by Kandol. Coppinger was then stopped by Jonathan Douglas before Mark McCammon came on for Wellens. With around twelve minutes remaining, Dougie Freedman's shot went wide and he was soon after replaced by Andrew Hughes. Two minutes later, Price was replaced by Adam Lockwood before Sullivan was booked for time-wasting. Doncaster then made their final substitution of the match with Coppinger being replaced by Lewis Guy. Douglas then saw his 20-yard (18 m) half-volley fly just wide of the Doncaster goal and after four minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle was blown.[13]
Details
Doncaster Rovers | 1–0 | Leeds United |
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Hayter 48' | (Report) |
Doncaster Rovers
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Leeds United
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Post-match
Hayter said: "It is an unbelievable feeling to score the winner. I have been dreaming about it all week."[13] The Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll suggested that he "could murder a cup of tea" while his opposite number McAllister suggested his team "huffed and puffed but our quality wasn't quite there today. We lost a poor goal."[13] The Leeds goalkeeper Ankergren reflected "maybe in a few days we'll realise the achievement ... but right now we're standing here with nothing."[14]
Leeds finished the following season in fourth place in League One and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost in the semi-finals to Millwall.[16][17] Doncaster's next season ended with them in fourteenth position in the Championship.[18]
References
- ^ a b "League One – 2007/2008 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Leeds condemned to 15-point penalty as League chairmen reject appeal". The Guardian. 9 August 2007. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Chapman, p. 378
- ^ a b Sanghera, Mandeep (12 May 2008). "Leeds 1–2 Carlisle". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ Sanghera, Mandeep (15 May 2008). "Carlisle 0–2 Leeds (agg 2–3)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Southend 0–0 Doncaster". BBC Sport. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ Sanghera, Mandeep (16 May 2008). "Doncaster 5–1 Southend". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ a b c "Doncaster Rovers". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ a b c "Leeds United". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Doncaster Rovers football club: record v Leeds United". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Doncaster squad details – 2007/08 – Player appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Leeds squad details – 2007/08 – Player appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Fletcher, Paul (25 May 2008). "Doncaster 1–0 Leeds – As it happened". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ a b Chapman, p. 379
- ^ "Doncaster Rovers v Leeds United, 25 May 2008". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
- ^ "League One – 2008/2009 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Leeds 1–1 Millwall (agg 1–2)". BBC Sport. 14 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ "Championship – 2008/2009 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
Sources
- Chapman, Daniel (2019). 100 Years of Leeds United. Icon Books Limited. ISBN 978-178578-430-9.